Less than one week after announcing their new “tournament champion
replacement clause,” Bellator
MMA has put that provision to use.

The promotion announced Monday that Doug
Marshall has suffered a broken hand in training and will be
unable to challenge 185-pound champ Alexander
Shlemenko for the title at Bellator
98. Instead, Shlemenko will rematch the man who Marshall
knocked out to win the Season 8 middleweight tournament, Brett
Cooper.

According to an official release, “Bellator fighters and executives
voted to determine their choice of which fighter would earn their
title shot.” Shlemenko and Cooper first squared off in a May 2011
non-tournament bout which saw the Russian earn a close split
decision.

Since then, Shlemenko has won eight straight fights, including
three more in 2011 to win Bellaor’s Season 5 middleweight tourney.
The 29-year-old “Storm” most recently knocked out
Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves in February to claim the title
vacated by Hector
Lombard.